Friday, April 29, 2011

When philosophers go bad. Not many can balance that many angels on that small a pin.

I have long maintained a page on my website where I address various distortions, misunderstandings, and criticisms of my work. I take it to be either a sign of carelessness or masochism on my part that this page is the #1 Google search result for the phrase "response to controversy." Surely, I need not have courted quite so much controversy. But there it is.

WikiLeaks released hundreds of U.S. documents on Thursday, including those with comments about the Harper government's "about-face" on Senate appointments, remarks on the Liberals' "muted" response to the prorogation crisis and criticism of Canada's failure to enact copyright reform.

A leaked cable from December 2008 suggests that U.S. Embassy officials in Ottawa saw Stephen Harper's appointment of senators as "a major about-face for a PM and a party that long campaigned for an elected upper chamber. The cost of the eighteen new senators also conflicts with political messaging about the need for official belt tightening."

The cable goes on to say, however, that "Harper will not pay a real political price. The staunchest advocates of Senate reform are Conservatives in western Canada."

The leaks are also filled with the usual American whining that Canada isn't towing the line enough. Tough being a client state.

It does provide a method of getting a conservative to do what you want them to: tell them an American wants it.

Toronto may get a new unnecessary stadium because a bored Yank whispered sweet nothings in the Mayor's brother's ear.

Thursday, April 28, 2011

The Supreme Court gave corporations a major win Wednesday, ruling in a 5-4 decision that companies can block their disgruntled customers from joining together in a class-action lawsuit. The ruling arose from a California lawsuit involving cellphones, but it will have a nationwide impact.

In the past, consumers who bought a product or a service had been free to join a class-action lawsuit if they were dissatisfied or felt they had been cheated. By combining these small claims, they could bring a major lawsuit against a corporation.

But in Wednesday's decision, the high court said that under the Federal Arbitration Act companies can force these disgruntled customers to arbitrate their complaints individually, not as part of a group. Consumer-rights advocates said this rule would spell the end for small claims involving products or services.

So let me see if I get this. A corporation is a person, and can contribute directly to a politician...but individual citizens can not act as a group to stand up for their rights against a corporation.

On what planet is this deemed just?

This one it seems.

To quote a great singer: Do you ever get the feeling you've been cheated?

How this is called a success is beyond me, but then I don't understand conservative economic theory either.

Best bullshit:

The website Rotten Tomatoes, which charts both reviews and audience sentiment, gave the film just a 6 percent positive rating from critics, but an 85 percent positive from audience members, with more than 7,000 viewers weighing in...

..“Shrugged” producer Harmon Kaslow contends that the site is biased and has only compiled negative reviews of the film.“I think Rotten Tomatoes has put up only a selected number of reviews and it appears the reviews they have selected are primarily the negative ones,” Kaslow told Fox411.com.

So they claim RT is fucking with the critics results, but the suspiciously high number of positive reviews is passed over without comment.

The Ontario government says it will repeal a decades-old law that it used to give law enforcement officials controversial new powers around the site of the G20 summit site in downtown Toronto last summer.

The move comes after former chief justice Roy McMurtry released a report Thursday criticizing the Ontario government for its secrecy in applying the Public Works Protection Act — enacted in 1939 to protect infrastructure works from wartime enemies — to the area around the G20 summit, which ran June 26-27.

"The Public Works Protection Act raises issues regarding the liberty and security of the person in providing for warrantless searches and stopping for identification," writes McMurtry in the report. "[The] potential for abuse is beyond troubling, to say the least."

At least, it gave us Officer Bubbles. At worst, it gave free reign to some of the more regrettable tendencies of the Harper regime.

It looks at though there is one silver lining to having Rob Ford as Mayor. Other than some office chairs at City Hall suffering from metal fatigue, the Lord Mayor's time in office will be marked by no lasting buildings or structures*.

So another one bites the dust. Although it never even made it into existence, for the last day or so I've been mourning the premature death of the Fort York Pedestrian and Cyclist Bridge, the plans for which were unexpectedly — but maybe not that unexpectedly — nixed by the Public Works Committee on Tuesday night. Although Councillour David Shiner was the face of the execution, a number of City Hall insiders have speculated that the decision to cut funding came from the top.

Ms. Kern is no stranger to these pages (See here, here and here), and now, she's Baaaacccckkk.

Rep. Sally Kern, R-Oklahoma City, said minorities earn less than white people because they don’t work as hard and have less initiative.

“We have a high percentage of blacks in prison, and that’s tragic, but are they in prison just because they are black or because they don’t want to study as hard in school? I’ve taught school, and I saw a lot of people of color who didn’t study hard because they said the government would take care of them.”

Kern said women earn less than men because “they tend to spend more time at home with their families.”

How do these people get elected? Oh right, there are members of the public who agree with them...

Tennessee is trying put through a "LALALALALA I can't hear you" kind of bill against the Gay.

Younger yet clearly more mature minds are fighting back.

We say gay for the students who won’t be able to. This site is dedicated to fight against the Tennessee state bill SB0049 (Don’t say gay bill), which would make it a misdemeanor to talk about homosexuality in grades bellow 9th. That is an obvious insult to our first amendment rights to free speech as well as it is a major blow to those young people who are shunned by their own parents for being gay and soon will not be able to talk to their school about it.

A note to the students: one of the greatest scams adults will pull on you is the illusion they know what they are doing, and always act from the noblest of motives.

They can be as spitefully motivated as any tantrum pulling brat.

Now is just such a case. So talk to them softly but firmly. Tell them this kind of childish ranting will not be tolerated.

Las Vegas-based videographer Mitchell Crooks was beaten and falsely arrested by Las Vegas police officer Derek Colling while filming a burglary arrest taking place across the street from his house. The entire sorry affair was recorded by Crooks’ brand new, $3,500 camera, which kept rolling throughout the arrest.

Shortly after the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported on Crooks’ story, the Clark County district attorney’s office dropped the “battery on a police officer” and “obstruction of justice” charges Colling brought against him. “I asked for a more definite description of the battery because battery requires a violent touching,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Christopher Laurent said.

According to ACLU attorney Allen Lichtenstein, “it’s perfectly legal to film officers as long as it does not interfere in their investigation.” Concerning Colling’s trespassing claims, Lichtenstein points out that a trespassing complaint can only be made by a property owner. “Even if the officer didn’t think he lived there, that doesn’t mean he didn’t have permission to be there,” Lichtenstein told the Review-Journal.

The Metropolitan Police Department announced that an internal investigation into the incident has been launched, but Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie declined further comment.

So is it acceptable for a priest — or any Christian, for that matter — to spend lavishly on a wedding while much of the world lives in poverty, and while Jesus harkens that, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor?”

Well, there are a couple of ways to respond.

All of which translate: Hell Yes, Spend Spend Spend!!!

That whole "eye of the needle" thing quietly forgotten.

She spends a lot of time imagining what Jesus might do. Conveniently, Jesus is just fine with a splashy wedding.

Dumbest line:

Nonetheless, on a special occasion, Jesus might be down with a lobster profiterole.

* Ms Tumminio is "ordained in the Episcopal Church" thus proving familiarity with the original Christian source material is no guarantee of actuate interpretations (as a commenter on CNN noted: Jesus was a Jew, so he probably wouldn't actually "be down with a lobster profiterole.").

But if nasty old Christianity is getting in the way of you enjoying the good life, Ms. Tumminio is just the one to turn to for spiritual guidance.

And for further amusement, check out CNN's On Belief section, where Americans try to convince themselves they aren't really the kind of people Jesus was warning us about.

Silly kids, don't they realize that nothing, not even them, can stand in the way of a Torontonian and his God given right to drive where ever he pleases. Not a pinko, and certainly not you.

Silly Mayor, doesn't he realize these "kids" are people, and soon will be able to vote...

With hockey sticks in hand, four Woodbine and Danforth teenagers trekked to City Hall on Tuesday on a mission to reverse a decades old by-law that bans ball hockey on residential streets.

Alexander Anderson, Andrew Polanyi, Liam McMahon, all 13, and their friend Bowen Pausey, 15, handed over a petition to the city’s public works and infrastructure with more than 125 signatures requesting the ban be lifted.

“We’re Canadian, we should be able to play our national sport. Roads aren’t only for cars,” said Andrew, who goes to Glen Ames Senior Public School. “I don’t think we should be restricted in what we do… it’s fun for us, and it keeps us active, not to always play video games.”

Mayor Rob Ford’s team, drooling at the prospect of another council ally to help push his conservative agenda, is poised to unleash “Ford Nation” on Councillor Maria Augimeri in a court-ordered by-election.

Nick Kouvalis, the campaign strategist who guided Ford to victory last October, confirmed he has offered to run the campaign of Augimeri challenger Gus Cusimano if a new vote proceeds in Ward 9, York Centre.

“Augimeri isn’t keen on implementing Ford’s agenda,” Kouvalis said in a phone interview Monday, adding he plans to frame the by-election as “referendum” on Ford’s progress, with a plea to give him another vote to expand contracting-out, cut the budget and other conservative initiatives.

“Augimeri votes with the left on most occasions and, if we can replace her with somebody who votes on the center-right on most occasions, that would be a huge victory for the mayor,” Kouvalis said.

Oooo Nick, I love when you talk right wing uniformity. You may be slightly unethical*, but you talk so purdy.

BBC presenter Andrew Marr has revealed he took out a super-injunction* to protect his family's privacy - but says he will not pursue it any further.

Mr Marr told the Daily Mail he was "embarrassed" about the gagging order he took out in 2008 to suppress reports of an affair with a fellow journalist.

"I did not come into journalism to go around gagging journalists," he said.

Private Eye editor, Ian Hislop, said Mr Marr, as a journalist himself, had been a "touch hypocritical".

Mr Marr's comments follow a number of recent injunctions which have banned the identification of celebrities.

* a gag order:

A gag order (also known as a gagging order or suppression order) is an order, sometimes a legal order by a court or government, other times a private order by an employer or other institution, restricting information or comment from being made public.

Gag orders are often used against participants involved in a lawsuit or criminal trial. They are also a tool to prevent media from publishing unwanted information on a particular topic. A Criminal Court, for instance, will issue a gag order on the media if the judge believes that potential jurors in a future trial will be influenced by the media reporting or speculation on the early stages of a case. Another example might be to ensure police are not impeded in their investigations by media publicity about a case.

In a similar manner, a 'gag law' is intended to limit freedom of the press, by instituting censorship or restricting access to information.

Over the past two years, German archaeologists have carefully excavated more of the sediment near the spot where the Lion-Man showed up. Thousands of bone fragments and some ivory pieces were found. Some of them matched the Lion-Man perfectly, a delighted Kind reported. Some of the figure's missing right side and parts of the back have already been restored as a result. "It needs a huge amount of patience," said Kind. "It's like doing a jigsaw puzzle in 3D." The work is continuing with the help of computer tomograph images of the pieces and simulation software. By next year, the Lion-Man may be complete.

Mr. Gee can *always* be counted upon to express in words the seedy underbelly of Toronto that is "gentrification".

One can picture him rolling the word around on his tongue, like fine wine...

The pace of gentrification in downtown Toronto is truly astonishing. Queen West, Queen East, Leslieville, Little Italy, the Junction, Parkdale – one by one, downtown neighbourhoods have been infiltrated by galleries, coffee shops and yoga studios, while house prices on the surrounding streets soar.

From my own door step near Dundas and Dovercourt, I’ve had a front-row seat on this phenomenon. When I bought my house two decades ago, I told my father how much I’d paid. “A quarter of a million to live in a slum, eh?” he helpfully remarked.

Slum? Hell no. A couple of well placed condos and we'll have those nasty poor fleeing to..to where ever the hell they flee to.

Taliban militants tunneled more than 480 inmates out the main prison in southern Afghanistan overnight, whisking them through a 320-metre-long underground passage they had dug over months, officials and insurgents said Monday.

Officials at Saraposa prison in the city of Kandahar only discovered the breach about 4 a.m. local time, about a half hour after the Taliban said they had gotten all the prisoners out.

It had been about a month since Gilbert Gottfried lobbed those brutally crude jokes about the Japanese tsunami when I met him earlier this week. He still seemed a little stunned by the reaction, which included a public drubbing by the morality police, and being fired as the voice of the Aflac spokesduck. Still, he couldn't quite make himself grovel for forgiveness. "You start to feel sorry, and then you wonder what you're feeling sorry for," he says. "That I made jokes?

Oh not just jokes, but totally insensitive morally reprehensible ones.

No one stopped him actually making these jokes, but reacted to them as a normal person with a heart would.

Mayor Ford, are you a moonlighting writer under the pen name 'Heather Mac Donald'?

I've always imagined you as a 'Gwendolyn' myself.

Drive behind the Geffen Contemporary, an art museum in downtown Los Angeles, and you will notice that it has painted over the graffiti scrawled on its back wall. Ordinarily, that wouldn’t be surprising; the Geffen’s neighbors also maintain constant vigilance against graffiti vandalism. But beginning in April, the Geffen—a satellite of L.A.’s Museum of Contemporary Art—will host what MOCA proudly bills as America’s first major museum survey of “street art,” a euphemism for graffiti. Graffiti, it turns out, is something that MOCA celebrates only on other people’s property, not on its own.

One can only imagine Ms. Mac Donald clutching her pearls, and sipping her white wine to compose herself at the thought of the barbarians at the gates.

Sunday, April 24, 2011

A federal judge ruled Friday that Gov. Paul LePage did not violate the free speech clause of the First Amendment when he ordered a mural removed from the headquarters of the Maine Department of Labor.

In a 45-page decision, Justice John Woodcock Jr. said that state-owned works of art are "government speech," and that political leaders are entitled to select the art that is displayed in state offices.

The writer here, a one Jessica Bennett*, tries so hard to be PC, but you can tell she really doesn't want to be.

It was perhaps the most brutal example of a private moment gone public. A shy 18-year-old, an accomplished violinist, learns a month into the school year that his college roommate has been spying, via a computer webcam, on his sexual relations with another young man. This student is not openly gay, nor does he know how many of his peers have viewed the recording. So it’s easy to imagine that Tyler Clementi was assuming the worst when, two days later, on September 21, the Rutgers freshman jumped 202 feet to his death from the George Washington Bridge.

There's a "but" coming, you know it and I know it.

But as painful as Clementi's story is to hear about—and as much as the indictment has been applauded by some activists—there are legal experts who question whether the punishment fits the crime.

Well no, but flogging is so medieval.

You need more reasons why Ravi is *sooo* misunderstood?

Ravi’s attorney’s insistence that the images of Clementi—while widely reported to have been “live-streamed”—were never in fact transmitted beyond a single computer belonging to Ravi’s alleged accomplice.

Oh well, that makes it all alright then.

* a writer for the Daily Beast, an online site for conservatives who's anti agression meds seem to be working.

Internet activists, perhaps today's new generation of hippies, often chant the mantra that "information wants to be free."

The New York Times may have silenced some of them on Thursday. The venerable news outlet announced that 100,000 people had signed up for digital subscriptions in the first month since they were offered.

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Jon Kyl's statement that 90 percent of Planned Parenthood's activities are related to abortion -- which drew mockery when he explained it was "not intended to be a factual statement" -- has been stricken from the Congressional Record. From POLITICO Pulse:

Sen. Jon Kyl has quietly removed his infamous comment that 90 percent of Planned Parenthood's business is abortion from the Congressional Record. Senators are allowed to revise and extend their comments in record* and his statement now simply says: "If you want an abortion you go to Planned Parenthood and that is what Planned Parenthood does." Kyl's office could not be reached for comment.

He was apparently escorted from an airport outside the city to his stage show, Violent Torpedo of Truth: Defeat is Not an Option, on Tuesday.

Police chief Cathy Lanier told a local TV station the escort appeared to violate department policy.

Police spokeswoman Gwendolyn Crump said the department was investigating.

Sheen posted a photo to Twitter of a speedometer reaching about 80mph (129km/h) and wrote: "In car with Police escort in front and rear! Driving like someone's about to deliver a baby! Cop car lights #Spinning!"

In the second period of Game 4 between the Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens, Bruins defenseman Andrew Ference scored to cut the lead to 3-2. After the goal, Ference skated toward the glass and gave an obscene gesture to the Canadiens fans.

After the Bruins won 5-4 in overtime, Ference addressed the incident.

"It looks awful. I just saw it," he said. "I can assure you that's not part of my repertoire. I think my glove got caught up. I can assure you that's not part of who I am or what I ever have been. It looks awful. I admit it and I completely apologize to how it looks. I was putting my fist in the air. I'm sorry. It does look awful. I don't know what else to say."

The wealthy really have some despicable traits. In this city, they've tarted up an area, think they own it and can keep the rest of nasty Toronto out.

FYI, the other people of this city don't like you.

Haughty Yorkville will be hot dog free by the end of the year.

Despite appeals from several vendors who have served up street meat along the Mink Mile for decades, councillors on the Toronto and East York Community Council voted to cancel their 11 vending permits.

The change comes after the vendors waited out years of multi-million dollar construction along Bloor St. only to find when the dust settled, new street furniture installed along the new, wider, granite sidewalks put their permitted spots in violation of a city bylaw governing clearance around vending locations.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, RICK PERRY, Governor of Texas, under the authority vested in me by the Constitution and Statutes of the State of Texas, do hereby proclaim the three-day period from Friday, April 22, 2011, to Sunday, April 24, 2011, as Days of Prayer for Rain in the State of Texas. I urge Texans of all faiths and traditions to offer prayers on that day for the healing of our land, the rebuilding of our communities and the restoration of our normal way of life.

Because I, Governor Perry of Texas haven't a clue how to deal with real problems in the real world.

This is our chance people. Not only to rid ourselves of this awful government, but also to see if he really means it.

Somehow, I doubt it.

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper said he would not attempt to form a government if another party won the most seats in the election and his party came in second place.

In an exclusive interview with CBC’s Peter Mansbridge aired on Thursday afternoon, Harper said if Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff or NDP Leader Jack Layton won the election, but was unable to gain the confidence of the House, he would not attempt to try and take power.

“They will form the government,” Harper said.

”I think If the other guys win, they get a shot at government and I don’t think you challenge that unless you’re prepared to go back to the people.”

Harper said he would reject an offer made by the governor general to try and form a government

"So you’d say to the governor general 'No, I wouldn't do that?' Mansbridge asked.

"Yeah, absolutely," he said, adding that people don't want another election.

Toronto police constable Michael Sanguinetti thought he was offering the key to rape prevention. “I’m not supposed to say this,” he told a group of students at an Osgoode Hall Law School safety forum on January 24, but to prevent being sexually assaulted, “Avoid dressing like sluts.”

Despite Sanguinetti’s subsequent written apology and promises of further professional training, the victim-blaming gaffe heard round the world sparked a movement that began in Canada but is now sweeping the United States and abroad: SlutWalks.

Here, a one LZ Granderson of CNN, safely removed from his critics by time and space, gives a convincing performance of a time traveller come from an earlier age.

LZ Granderson, author of the splendid piece we discussed yesterday, in which he admonished parents not to let their daughters dress like tramps, responded to some of the many comments he received on the article, and, suffice it to say, he wasn't moved by his critics. (Not that he seriously engaged any truly substantive criticism, anyway.)

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper is defending his campaign spokesman from allegations of political interference in a senior appointment at the Montreal Port Authority.

Dimitri Soudas, the Conservative Party's spokesman, is accused of putting pressure on the board of directors of the Montreal Port Authority to appoint a favoured individual as its chief executive officer.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

You know, they seem to make their Terms of Use as unreadable as possible.

Wonder why....

Apple iPhones and 3G iPads are secretly recording and storing details of all their owners' movements, researchers claim.

Location data is kept in a hidden, unencrypted file according to security experts Alasdair Allan and Pete Warden.

With the right software, it can be used to map exactly where a person has been.

Apple has yet to comment on the revelation, however there in no suggestion that it has been uploading or using the information.

The findings, first reported by the Guardian newspaper, will come as a surprise to most iPhone users, as their devices do not give any visual indication that such data is being recorded.

However, although the practice is not explicitly flagged-up, it appears to be covered in the company's terms of use.

"We may collect information such as occupation, language, zip code, area code, unique device identifier, location, and the time zone where an Apple product is used so that we can better understand customer behaviour and improve our products, services, and advertising"

A legal challenge to the Digital Economy Act has failed get the controversial legislation overturned.

The judicial review, requested by BT and Talk Talk, rejected claims that Parliament had overstepped its powers with anti-piracy measures.

However, Mr Justice Kenneth Parker upheld one of the objections, relating to who pays for the law's enforcement.

Today's ruling was welcomed by copyright holders who said that it would help reduce illegal file sharing.

The act, which was rushed through Parliament before the 2010 general election, obliges internet service providers (ISPs) to co-operate with rights holders in identifying computer users who may have downloaded music, software or videos illegally.

Where are the good old days when you could call a queer a fag and get away with it. Goodness gracious me, where are the standards today....?

Remember gentle reader, Mr. Nugent and his ilk are the good guys.

Basketball superstar Kobe Bryant was socked with a $100,000 fine by the NBA last week for calling a referee what the NBA thinks is a derogatory, ugly and vile name.

To be exact, Mr. Bryant committed this egregious verbal foul because he used a word demeaning to homosexuals, the most protected class of people in America.

Gay rights groups applaud the decision of the NBA, which must make all the homosexual basketball fans feel peachy and special. Who knows, maybe the NBA will use Mr. Bryant’s $100,000 to buy courtside seats for gay basketball fans. Yeah, that’s the ticket. Show some gay pride, NBA.

Those among us who work tirelessly to shut down (and shout down, if the need arises) speech they disagree with must also be absolutely gay with pride and satisfaction over this fine.

Mr. Bryant can obviously afford to pay the fine, but that’s not the point.

The principle is what matters. Those of us addicted to common sense and logic think that fining Mr. Bryant $100,000 for calling a referee a name is much more ugly, vile and demeaning than anything Mr. Bryant uttered or could possibly have uttered. The politically correct brain-dead can’t seem to remember the ending for “Sticks and Stones.”

Leafing through Inspire magazine, one finds glossy, high-quality pages, articles in English on the Middle East uprisings, interviews with al-Qaeda enthusiasts and a do-it-yourself feature on how to handle weapons and bombs.

Al-Shamikha, the al-Qaeda version of Cosmopolitan magazine, mixes beauty and fashion tips with articles encouraging women to push their husbands on the path of martyrdom*.

“These publications are considered ‘Jihadi cool.’ Some, like Inspire, are published in English to specifically target twentysomething jihadists with European or American citizenship,” says Magnus Ranstorp, research director at the Center for Asymmetric Threat Studies at the Swedish National Defense College.

Right-handedness is a distinctively human characteristic, with right-handers outnumbering lefties nine-to-one. But how far back does right-handedness reach in the human story?

Researchers have tried to determine the answer by looking at ancient tools, prehistoric art and human bones, but the results have not been definitive.

Now, David Frayer, professor of anthropology at the University of Kansas, has used markings on fossilized front teeth to show that right-handedness goes back more than 500,000 years. He is the lead author (with colleagues in Croatia, Italy and Spain) of a paper published this month in the British journal Laterality.

His research shows that distinctive markings on fossilized teeth correlate to the right or left-handedness of individual prehistoric humans.

Although I do believe marijuana should be legal, anything that will keep Harper from power is a good thing.

Not that many young people would vote for Harper anyway. Liberal feelings run high among the young, until age and experience show them that the world is filled with spiteful backwards looking people who call themselves "conservatives*".

A soul crushing experience for even the most optimistic of youth.

Ottawa is appealing an Ontario court ruling that, if left to stand, could make the possession of marijuana legal in the province.

The Public Prosecution Office of Canada announced Tuesday that it has filed a notice of appeal with Ontario's top court in respect to Justice Donald Taliano's April 11 ruling.

The appeal states that Taliano made critical errors in law by declaring the federal medical marijuana program unconstitutional.

Taliano ordered that Ottawa fix the program by July or face the prospect of effectively legalizing marijuana.

The judge's decision came in a criminal case involving Matthew Mernagh, 37, of St. Catharines, who was unable to obtain a medical marijuana licence.

Mernagh's lawyer, Paul Lewin, has said that he's confident the decision will be upheld by the Ontario Court of Appeal.

NOW Magazine has filed a complaint with the city’s Integrity Commissioner against Mayor Rob Ford’s office following an alleged order to remove the weekly’s copies from all City of Toronto locations.

Last month, NOW claimed its magazines, featuring several photo-shopped photos of a scantily clad Rob Ford, were yanked from City Hall by order of the mayor’s office. NOW said they have “solid evidence” in the form of an e-mail request to Lorraine Pickett, supervisor of custodial services, with directions to “remove all NOW newspapers from all City of Toronto locations/facilities asap. Please remove and dispose.”

“This is a disturbing infringement on the right to free expression and speaks to a careless disregard for democracy in the highest office of city government,” said CEO Alice Klein. “We have a right to know who ordered this infringement of our democratic rights and to see that there are consequences for those who are responsible for this outrageous act.”

Responding to the complaint, Mr. Ford’s press secretary Adrienne Batra said “there's not much information I can provide you because this is an ongoing matter.”

Translation: The Mayor is still reportedly confined to his fainting couch, recovering from the severe taunting he received at the hands of those Pinko monsters at NOW.

In 2010, chief executives at some of the nation's largest companies earned an average of $11.4 million in total pay -- 343 times more than a typical American worker, according to the AFL-CIO.

"Despite the collapse of the financial market at the hands of executives less than 3 years ago, the disparity between CEO and workers' pay has continued to grow to levels that are simply stunning," said Richard Trumka, AFL-CIO president.

In an effort to shine a light on CEO pay, the AFL-CIO examined chief executive salaries at 299 firms traded on the S&P 500. Their compensation was up 23% in 2010, compared to 2009. AFL-CIO used Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data to define typical worker pay, which was $33,190 for all occupations in 2009, the most recent year for which data is available.

Richard Metzger of Dangerous Minds (you may know him as founder of Disinformation, or as a BB guestblogger, or as the counterculture "Charlie Rose"), writes in with the odd story of a Facebook photo ban, and the media misinfo frenzy that followed.

Since just last Friday, the above photo, a publicity still from the popular BBC soap opera "EastEnders" has become the emblem of an utterly unnecessary Facebook scandal. One that's already gone international and one that I, personally, I am tangentially involved in. I say unnecessary because it never should have happened in the first place, but let me state this at the beginning of this for those of you--you know who you are-- who'll just read the first two paragraphs before zipping off to write something snarky in the comments: I do not personally believe that the Facebook corporation is in any way homophobic. Not even in the slightest. Okay?

Now that I've got that out of the way, here is what happened and why some people might think that they are:

Nothing governments dislike more than real freedom. Makes their job just that must less relevant.

Some countries are running each other over in their rush to repress. What are they afraid of?

Freedom on the worldwide Internet is in danger, according to a new report by Freedom House.

In a survey of 37 countries, only 8 qualified as having completely "Free" Internets, while 11 were designated "Not Free" and the remainder were "Partly Free." The survey measured Internet freedom by studying obstacles to access, such as governmental efforts to block technologies or control over Internet access providers, limits on content, including the blocking of websites and other forms of censorship, as well as violations of user rights including privacy, online surveillance and real world repercussions for online activity. The U.S. scored second on the list as ranked by most to least free, with Estonia taking the lead as the nation where the Internet was most free. Germany, Australia and the UK were ranked just behind the U.S.

Among the most alarming findings of the report was evidence that a growing number of countries are attempting to restrict the flow on information online by blocking political content and threatening website owners and bloggers with arrest. Even more democratic countries, like the UK, are chipping away at web freedom with other forms of censorship and surveillance, or with legal harassment.

The world gets a taste of the endless drumbeat of violence that is life in Toronto.

Nobody here cares though. As long as they have a condo to live in and a car to drive, the rest of the world can go fuck themselves.

Michael Moore was an idiot. If they're wise, people in Toronto lock their doors.

A 23-year-old exchange student, attacked in her Toronto apartment while a friend in China watched via computer webcam, was found dead there hours later, police say.

Toronto Police on Monday identified the student as Qian (Necole) Liu of Beijing. She was talking early Friday morning to a male friend from home when a man allegedly knocked on her door, asking to use her phone, police said in a news release.

The online witness said he saw Liu and the unknown man struggle for a time before the attacker turned off her laptop, the news release said.

The friend in China then started a desperate bid to find out what happened, CNN-affiliate CTV reported.

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer vetoed a controversial measure on Monday that would have permitted guns to be carried on public rights of way at public university and community college campuses, the Arizona Republic reports.

And

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer has vetoed a bill that would have required President Obama and others to prove their U.S. births before appearing on the state ballot.

Doug Ford has a vision: a football stadium on the waterfront. He says the NFL stadium might be built on the site of the abandoned Hearn generating plant in the underdeveloped Portlands.

The stadium would be the anchor for a massive redevelopment of the Portlands that would “turn this dump site into a wow factor.” It would include dramatically designed residential buildings and high-end retailers such as Macy’s department store. A monorail elevated transit system would link it to downtown.

And unicorns will dance in the sunlight.

Why is this important you may ask?

He says that when he brings U.S. visitors to Toronto, they tell him, “Doug, you’ve got a beautiful, clean city but there’s nothing to do here.”

“Well,” he tells them, “there’s going to be something to do.”

Yup, mustn't be embarrassed by easily bored jock oriented Americans, now must we?

The Downtown Eastside advocacy group is claiming the Mounties hired academics to challenge the Insite facility's track record.

Pivot Legal Society lawyer Doug King says it's not the RCMP's job to seek out research on Insite and Pivot has filed a complaint with the federal auditor general, asking for an investigation to determine if the RCMP used public funds to finance the research.

In a beautiful twist of irony, New Zealand parliament member Melissa Lee has been caught in a copyright quagmire. It turns out that just hours before she spoke out in support of the controversial new copyright law being rushed through parliament, she tweeted how pleased she was with a compilation of K-Pop songs a friend copied for her.

Cut her off from the Net, and throw the bitch in jail. I mean, that's the kind of just verdict New Zealand wants to impose on its citizen's (with urging from the entertainment industry).

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper says a Conservative majority is the only way to stop Quebec sovereignists.

"I don't want to get in too much to talking about the sovereignty movement and Quebec provincial politics, but what I do want to note is what Mr. Duceppe has said coming out of that PQ convention [Sunday] — he has said that they are moving towards, they are walking towards, his objective — the sovereignty of Quebec and another Quebec referendum," Harper told reporters.

"And [Duceppe] says step one to achieve that is to stop a federal Conservative majority government in Ottawa. Step one is to weaken the country, have a weak government in Ottawa, and that is another reason why Canadians, we believe, must choose a strong, stable, national Conservative majority."

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has ruled out sending more aircraft to participate in the NATO mission over Libya, saying any such commitment requires consultation in Parliament.

His comment Friday came as NATO failed for a second day to find new ground-attack aircraft for the fight against Moammar Gadhafi's forces in Libya, but Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen expects the additional planes soon.

Harper, speaking Friday on the campaign trail, said Canada is making a "significant contribution" and believes Gadhafi's leadership must "end" in order to fully protect the civilian population.

But Harper reiterated his government has been clear that it will not put Canadian soldiers on the ground in Libya.

"In terms of any requests for additional participation, we will not make those kind of commitments during an election campaign. To make any kind of additional commitment would require the Parliament of Canada to be sitting and to be discussing these matters," he told reporters in Richmond Hill, Ont.

They even closed early, hoping not to become an international laughing stock.

Too late...

The pub at the centre of a homophobia row closed its doors, as hundreds of people prepared to attend a "gay kiss-in" protest there.

The John Snow, in Soho, central London, became the focus of unwanted attention when James Bull and Jonathan Williams were asked to leave on Wednesday night by a staff member who allegedly described the couple's kissing as "obscene".

Williams tweeted about the incident, which propelled him and Bull, who were on their first date, to the attention of national media, leading to plans for a "gay kiss-in" Facebook event, scheduled for 7pm on Friday. The John Snow, perhaps wary of the impending siege, closed at around 3.30pm, leaving bemused drinkers locked out on the street with beverages in hand, according to one bystander.

You know the owner is being congratulated by his/her fellow knuckledraggers; "We'll done! You've made yourself feel better by discriminating against a fag! High five!"

This week, New Zealand's Parliament rushed in its controversial 3-strikes Internet disconnection law, using emergency procedures invoked to help victims of the Christchurch earthquake for cover. The law allows whole families to be disconnected from the Internet if someone using their Internet connection is accused -- without proof -- of three acts of copyright infringement. The NZ government and press say that this draconian law only goes into effect if infringement doesn't decline over the next two years. But the reality is that 3-strikes can go into effect as early as September, based on consultation solely with rightsholders, with no need for public consultation.

This is completely unjust, but we can't cut into the Industry's profits, now can we?

Cutting someone from the Net these days is like cutting their phone access. Unacceptable, but it shows the greed involved by those who think this is just.

EH in reply to afs97209Yes, the next thing you know they'll be starting wars and engineering light settlements from bankers.

Friday, April 15, 2011

President Barack Obama was caught on an open mic making some blunt and intriguing remarks about the actions of Republicans in recent budget negotiations that produced a deal to avert a government shutdown at a fundraiser in Chicago on Thursday, CBS News reports.

More bullying for an industry that looks more and more as if they run the Net.

Now go to your room, you've been very bad!

Actually, what they are doing is hiding a rather brutal message behind cutesy graphics, ala Duck and Cover.

In the video, a voice-of-god narrator explains to young Russell the stiff penalties associated with copyright infringement. He could get sued for serious money, for example. “You could lose your ‘booty,’” the narrator tells Russell as a pile of treasure disappears from the squirrel-pirate’s home. “Or worse, you could lose your YouTube account!”

If there's one company that will hit a trillion dollar market cap, it will be Apple, according to USA Today. Apple could do it in the next three years. USA Today came up with Apple's trillion dollar market cap based on its five-year geometric mean average increase of 59% a year. So given today's market value of about $310 billion, if Apple continues to increase in value by 59% each year, in 2014, we'll have the first trillion dollar company. How huge is that? The most valuable company ever was Microsoft in 2000. That year it hit a $604 billion market cap.

U.S. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) suggested on Thursday that an upcoming House hearing on “defending marriage” is a “legitimate” use of U.S. government funds as the subcommittee confirmed that witnesses who are set to testify include anti-gay activists.

During a news conference, Boehner made the remarks in response to a question from the Washington Blade on whether he supports the planned hearing, which is set to take place Friday before the House Judiciary subcommittee on the Constitution, and if he thinks the event is an appropriate use of federal resources.

“There are a lot of committees, a lot of hearings,” Boehner said. “As I made it clear from the beginning of this year, the committee process is important to this institution, and I think addressing any question — serious question — in American society is legitimate.”

Here is the reality: the Republicans have spent the past 30 years creating deficits and the Democrats have spent the past 30 years closing them. The unimportance of deficits became an article of faith during the second Bush Administration: "Reagan proved that deficits don't matter," Dick Cheney famously said. It has been rather hilarious for those of us with even a minimal grasp of recent history to watch these folks pull fierce 180-degree turns on the issue--and it is even more hilarious to watch them accuse Obama of hyper-partisanship after the dump-truck full of garbage they visited upon his head these past few years.

I'm not sure what is more frightening. Republican bullshit, or the dangerous people who buy their lies.

Perhaps they are still living in the age before Google, before people could easily look up previous statements and contrast for bullshit.

Keep it up, or these bastards will make grandma (and the future you) fend for herself in the medical marketplace.

“I have to say I am very upset,” the Thompson, the TPSB vice-chairman said when contacted.

Thompson was livid after being told that he was part of a cabal sent by the mayor to cut police funding.

“What I was told was there was going to be a showdown here today because the mayor’s office had sent his goons into the meeting to take money away from the police,” Thompson said Thursday night. “The comments are inflammatory, outrageous and untrue.”

Saying he spoke directly to police, Thompson did not elaborate on who made the comments or where the allegations of the mayor’s office sending in “goons” originated.

This won't change a thing, as police are the last to get the "cut out the illegal activities" memo...

The kettling of G20 protesters in London was illegal, a British High Court has ruled in a case with sweeping implications in Toronto.

The decision Thursday by the Queen’s Bench justices said police were working “in good faith” but still overreacted when they corralled 4,500 people inside a Climate Camp in London for three hours on April 1, 2009.

“The police may only take such preventive action as a last resort catering for situations about to descend into violence,” the Queen’s Bench justices.

“The test of necessity is met only in truly extreme and exceptional cases.”

“This is groundbreaking,” lawyer John Halford, representing the claimants Hannah McClure and Josh Moos, told the Toronto Star. “Never has there been a judicial review challenging a mass use of force by a lot of officers at once.”

This was “the blunt instrument being used when a scalpel is available,” he said.

“It is not necessary to make thousands of others suffer because police can’t be bothered to arrest the ones who are responsible.”

To our younger readers: There has been a highly successful campaign by our leaders to demonize any form of protest.

"Filthy hippies..."

Having protests thus discouraged, it's a free for all for those in power.

How convenient...

If you find you're being fucked over by government etc, speak up, protest. If you don't, power will walk over you as if you were an old doormat. They will wipe their boots on you in contempt.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

It's a toss up between marketers and pond scum. Pond scum has a slight edge as it hasn't yet mastered the telephone system.

An increasing number of Canadians on the national do-not-call list say they are getting more unwanted calls than before they registered.

The latest survey of people who have signed up not to get marketing calls found that 80 per cent of registrants reported receiving fewer telemarketing calls than before they put their number on the list, down from 84 per cent in 2010, polling firm Harris/Decima reported Thursday.

In addition, 15 per cent of do-not-call list registrants said they actually receive more telemarketing calls than before they joined the list, up from 12 per cent in 2010.

The Ford administration says waste-cutting is its motive for moving to scrap 21 citizen-dominated committees that advise council on everything from cycling to pedestrians to aboriginal affairs.

But critics charged Wednesday that axing the committees — which are made up of volunteers, including some councillors, and have no budget — is an undemocratic move meant to shut out anyone with opposing views.

Councillor Adam Vaughan said the Ford administration just isn’t interested in consulting some sectors of the community.

The touchiest issue of the day arose from a report on Queers Against Israeli Apartheid, a controversial group whose inclusion in last year’s Pride Toronto celebrations prompted council to threaten to withhold more than $120,000 in funding for the event.

Mayor Rob Ford campaigned on a pledge to terminate support for Pride if QuAIA was allowed to march in the parade, arguing that it promotes hate.

The city report, contained in the executive agenda, concluded that the group doesn’t contravene any of Toronto’s anti-discrimination policies and that no reason could be found that the city should withhold its contribution to Pride. That didn’t sit well with the mayor’s camp.

“If they want to go out and have a good time and celebrate their gayness, that’s up to them,” said deputy mayor Doug Holyday, who added that he would vote to cut Pride funding if QuAIA marches. “When they’re using money to make political points and to put people down, we’re not into putting our money up for that.”

I love when politicians express their "ignoramusenous".

Stupidity is not just confined to the Mayor's office, as this comment from the story provides:

boris2111:55 PM on April 13, 2011The queers should go try to be queers in any Muslim country for a week..then they can come back and explain to us how " evil " Israel is.

The usual excuse these days when someone is caught expressing their true selves...

Homophobia is getting so expensive these days.

The National Basketball Association fined Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers $100,000 on Wednesday for "offensive and inexcusable" comments he made during Tuesday night's game, the league said in a statement.

Bryant used an expletive and an anti-gay slur directed at a referee after receiving a technical foul in a game against the San Antonio Spurs.

In a pregame phone call Wednesday night to Joe Solomonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, Bryant apologized for using the slur, the commission said in a statement.

"We had a very sincere conversation in which he expressed his heartfelt regret for the hurt that his words caused," Solomonese said. "He told me that it's never OK to degrade or tease, and that he understands how his words could unfortunately give the wrong impression that this is appropriate conduct. At the end of a difficult day, I applaud Kobe for coming forward and taking responsibility for his actions."

Because even conservatives like to peer over the wall at the rest of the world, nervously pasting on a smile and waving as if they care.

But only if they are wearing easily identifiable costumes. How else can we tell Them from Us.

A Conservative campaign staffer in a Toronto riding waded into hot water Wednesday, sending out an email seeking voters in "national folklore costumes" to appear at a photo-op for an upcoming visit from Conservative Party leader Stephen Harper.

"We, at the Etobicoke Centre riding, are trying to create a photo-op about all the multicultural groups that support Ted Opitz our local Conservative candidate and the Prime Minister," the email signed by Zeljko 'Zed' Zidaric said.

"The opportunity is to have up to 20 people in national folklore costumes which represent their ethnic backgrounds," said the email.

"These people will sit in front row behind the PM — great TV photo op." Zidaric went on to write that the campaign was still "seeking representation from the Arab community" and asked for people willing to participate in "ethnic costume."

Piñatas and burkas for everyone! Throw in Ukrainian ribbon dancers, a May pole, and I'm in. Weeeeeeeeee!

Congratulations. You've managed to twist your young into soulless monsters such as yourselves.

You must be so proud. It's a massive step backwards, but that's your ultimate goal, now isn't it?

Americans’ opinions on torture seem to have fractured, and largely on generational lines. A new study by the American Red Cross obtained exclusively by The Daily Beast found that a surprising majority—almost 60 percent—of American teenagers thought things like water-boarding or sleep deprivation are sometimes acceptable. More than half also approved of killing captured enemies in cases where the enemy had killed Americans. When asked about the reverse, 41 percent thought it was permissible for American troops to be tortured overseas. In all cases, young people showed themselves to be significantly more in favor of torture than older adults.

It is repulsive to think that some in power actually thought is was something that should be up for debate. If this belief holds as these teenagers grow up, the problem will only grow as the century progresses and they obtain positions of power.

Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty told CNN that he is running for President.

Pawlenty made the straight-forward proclamation during an appearance on CNN's 'Piers Morgan Tonight' set to air Tuesday. Morgan asked Pawlenty if he would ever consider being Donald Trump's running-mate on a hypothetical ticket. The former governor responded, "I'm running for president." He then continued, "I'm not putting my hat in the ring rhetorically or ultimately for vice president. So I'm focused on running for president."

The statement follows Pawlenty's March announcement in which he formed a presidential exploratory committee.

"As the governor has said many times, he is not running to be anybody's vice president," Pawlenty spokesman Alex Conant told CNN. "He will have a formal announcement about running for president later this spring."

Some really do admire these people. The more you try and remind them their so called leaders are in reality anti intellectual bullies, the more they revel in the shear awfulness of it all.

Anything to kick the pinkos....

As scandals pile up in the Tories’ corner, this election presents a massive case of déjà vu – but it’s not of federal campaigns past. No – the national vote of 2011 is shaping up to be a repeat of the 2010 municipal vote in Toronto, which saw scandal-plagued councillor Rob Ford defy the odds, the pundits, and hostile media to triumphantly claim the Mayor’s chair in Canada’s largest city.

Oh and, is Stephen Harper as loathsome as Rob Ford? He's worse, as Ford isn't yet a possible war criminal.

Ontario is one step closer to the legalization of marijuana after the Ontario Superior Court struck down two key parts of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act that prohibit the possession and production of pot.

The court declared the rules that govern medical marijuana access and the prohibitions laid out in Sections 4 and 7 of the act "constitutionally invalid and of no force and effect" on Monday, effectively paving the way for legalization.

If the government does not respond within 90 days with a successful delay or re-regulation of marijuana, the drug will be legal to possess and produce in Ontario, where the decision is binding.

Just an FYI to our political parties running in the election now: Declare you will legalize marijuana within 90 days of winning, and you will get the entire youth vote.

All except for you Mr. Harper. You are not permitted to win this election. There is not enough marijuana in the world to make that pain go away.

President Obama plans this week to respond to a Republican blueprint for tackling the soaring national debt by promoting a bipartisan approach pioneered by an independent presidential commission rather than introducing his own detailed plan.

Obama will not blaze a fresh path when he delivers a much-anticipated speech Wednesday afternoon at George Washington University. Instead, he is expected to offer support for the commission’s work and a related effort underway in the Senate to develop a strategy for curbing borrowing. Obama will frame the approach as a responsible alternative to the 2012 plan unveiled last week by House Republicans, according to people briefed by the White House.

If you look, almost all the restrictions and barriers appearing on the Net have their origin in the Entertainment industry...

Today, State Secretary of Security and Justice Fred Teeven announced that the Government wants to modernize current copyright law. One of the most drastic changes put forward in the new plans is that in addition to uploading, downloading of all copyrighted material will also be outlawed.